Recently, a form of communication referred to as machine-type communication (MTC) communication or machine-to-machine (M2M) communication in which a terminal device connected to a communication network independently performs communication without involving human intervention has been widely used. For example, a household gas meter is used as an MTC terminal and the remaining amount of gas is periodically transmitted from the meter to a server of a provider, so that the provider can recognize an amount of gas used in each household without requiring an inspector to perform a meter reading operation. In addition, the MTC communication, for example, can be used for various purposes such as transmission of an inventory quantity from a vending machine, transmission of the remaining amount of toner from a copier, transportation management in the transportation industry, and monitoring for security. The use of the MTC communication is also expected to expand in the future.
When the use of the MTC communication becomes widespread, the number of terminals to be accommodated by a communication network significantly increases. As a result, congestion of traffic within the communication network occurs and a communication failure or deterioration of quality of service (QoS) is likely to be problematic.
The following Patent Literature 1 proposes technology for monitoring a state of a communication node in a mobile communication network and changing a forwarding path of a signal from a terminal when congestion or abnormality has been detected.